I Am
by Live-Ruido
Summary: Retooled and Reposted. Forty years after the fall of the Land of Rain, a new country tries to rebuild.


This piece will be a much more serious story, and will deal with Original Characters that do not interact with current cannon characters, so there will be no OCxSakura, or anyone else, etc.

As a disclaimer, this will obviously deal a lot with religion. Therefore at it is at this time that I will say that I am not denouncing nor supporting any religion or faith with this story, whether it be Atheism , Buddhism, Christianity, or anything else. This story is meant only to entertain. The circumstances of this story are what I would predict would happen given how certain characters are called or treated in cannon. I ask that you enjoy it for what it is: Fan-Fiction, meaning something fake created in regard to an already established story. Thank you.

I will get to work on Breeder Blues as soon as I can come up with any ideas, but please enjoy this while you wait.

[Retooled and Reposted after some changes.

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Chapter One: Bi'reysheet 

"The following is the origin of our country's state, and our faith. Please take notes." Narumi said calmly to her class. She waited a few minutes while the students got their notebooks out of their bags, quietly chatting to each other about nothing at all. It was always hard to get the kids to listen to history lectures. The girls would just pass notes to each other about their crushes, while the boys would sit and stare, wishing it was taijutsu practice instead. Eventually the class quieted down, and with a glare at the Leaf symbol in the back of the class room, Narumi began:

"When the last sword was sheathed and the remaining legions left, Konoha stood the tallest amongst all the victors. The brutal war of Uchiha Madara and his Akatsuki ravaged the five great shinobi nations, but in the end, the Akatsuki's few followers were pushed back to their home of Amegakure in the Land of Rain and soundly defeated by a combined Suna and Konoha attack from opposite sides. While Kazekage Gaara wished to purge the country of all traces of shinobi, Hokage Tsunade understood the need to rehabilitate the Land of Rain into new, prosperous lesser shinobi country in the shadow of Konoha"

"The defeated generation of ninja, who were tired of the long war they had fought in, calmly went along with the reforms. There was no reason to object. If you worked as Konoha told you to work, lived as Konoha told you to live, acted as Konoha told you to act, you and your family would have food, shelter, and would live to see tomorrow. But those who were children when Konoha came only remembered that there was prosperity when their parents spoke of a god named Pein in bedtime tales and starvation when they said that the god had left. The children used to hope in private that Pein would come again to return the land to its former glory. Thoughts became ideas, ideas became rumors, rumors became legend, and legend became dogma. And as the next generation came-"

"Sensei?" a harsh voice rang out in the classroom, bringing Narumi's story to a crashing halt.

"Yes Shin?" she asked, keeping her face as neutral as possible as she turned to the now standing student.

"Narumi-Sensei, I must request that you refrain from blaspheming against Pein-sama."

Despite the room being quiet already, the class seemed to be suffocated by a deafening silence. Narumi's lip twitched as she crossed her arms and stared intently at Shin.

"Shin, despite what your parents have told you, Pein was not a god. He was nothing more than a very powerful man who let our country down. He allowed for Konoha take our land from us, he allowed for the foreign powers to take enslave our people, he-"

"Will come again and save us;" Shin interrupted as he stared fiercely back at his teacher. There was a general murmur of consent amongst the students.

"I…" Narumi started to say, but decided against it. She could have no victory against such closed-mined children. Besides, it was a ploy. This wasn't the first time her students had used her anger to get them off topics they considered boring. She sighed and, with a small frown, looked at the class. "…tomorrow…tomorrow is your Genin exam. All of you have the potential to pass this exam, so you should not worry. Good luck; Class dismissed."

The students promptly packed their bags and left the room, with the sole exception of Shin. He was still standing. "Get out Shin," Narumi spat maliciously, "I have no time to deal with you or your_religion_."

"Why must you deny the divinity of Pein-sama? Why must you refuse to believe in his return?" Shin asked.

Narumi sighed and sat on her desk. "Your Pein-Sama is a farce. He was a man who abandoned our village. Just a man and nothing more than you are yourself; Just another walking sack of arrogance and testosterone."

"And yet, beneath the burlap, he was a god. You're right. He was a man. He lived, he died, and he will return."

Narumi grit her teeth, the kid just would not get the hint. "As the son of the village archivist, I would think that you would know our history better than anyone else." She said, before smirking, "especially the part about how an 'omnipotent god' was defeated by a teenager." She began to stare at Shin, her smile taunting him.

"I know our history quite well," Shin seethed, "especially the part my father told me about how fifty years ago under Pein, there was meat for every meal and plumbing in every house! And now," Shin's voice grew soft, "…now my family can barely scrape together a bowl of rice for three meals a day. If we are patient, he will return. He will bring the rain to grow our crops, and the strength to conquer our enemies."

"He is a lie dammit!" Narumi yelled, finally losing her temper, "An opiate of the people force fed to us so that our village stays passive in its occupation and doesn't rise up against Konoha! Why do you think all the prayer books have the Leaf emblem printed in the back page? Its just you stay peacefully waiting for your god to return while you play ninja for the Leaf."

"Then why are you teaching us to be ninjas!? So you can just watch us play along!?"

Narumi's face tightened, and then relaxed. She turned away from Shin. "I have no need to explain my motives, least of all to you. Now go home and forget about all of this." She turned back to Shin and smiled. "You'll never pass if you're angry."

Shin wanted to keep arguing, but fell silent. The birds chirping, the wind blowing, the children's footsteps approaching the classroom door; He bowed to his teacher before quickly scurrying out of the classroom.

Outside, Shin passed by most of his classmates on his way to Pein's temple. They were playing some game, running around like stupid kids. He ignored them, save Kenji, who was sitting on the sidelines, watching the class with the same look as Shin. They nodded at each other, Shin not even breaking his stride, before turning away. Shin kept walking until he saw Asuka, at which he broke into a sprint, ran past her, and up the Academy building towards the temple.

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